Minimizing internal stresses

[Tom Bender]

Assuming that it's rough sawn, and if it's flat now you might try this;

Plane the outside faces to get good surfaces and to remove a little of the surface effect (driest and acclimated)

Joint an edge to make it handle well in resawing

Resaw and sticker for a few months

If it's going to fail, just get it over with.

[Joe Jensen]

There are lots of myths and miss-explanations. A few things on wood. 1) Wood changes size with changes in humidity. If you look at a slice wood showing the rings and look at the rings, the wood will move a lot in a growth ring and a lot less between growth rings. This is why a slice of wood will always crack in at least one place looking like someone took a slice out of a pie. 2) Wood finish will not stop this movement. Humidity will always get into the wood. Finishes slow it down but it will always move. 3) The movement is predictable when the grain is straight. Nearly all species move 3X More with the grain than across the grain. If you resaw a piece with straight grain its unlikely to move much. Resaw a part with some curl or crotch or burl or where a branch connected with the main tree trunk and it will move like crazy. This is because within that piece as it dried some wood will be trying to move 3X more than the rest. When the board is cut that pieces will be more free to move. 4) You can plan for this when cutting. I love figured wood and it's my go-to. But it will move so I cut each part oversize and then work to thickness planning to joint an plane a lot to get it flat. 5) You need to design for this movement. I built a kitchen table from plain sliced 6/4" red oak. It's 37" wide, finished on all sides with polyurethane and even in relatively dry and consistent humidity in Arizona it changes width 3/8" every change of season. If I didn't plan for this in the design and construction the top would split. A great book is "Understanding Wood".

[Josko Catipovic]

Screwed up my courage and did it: planed both sides, squared one edge, and resawed down the middle. 5hp L18 with a 1 1/4" Resaw king cut it like balsawood, although supporting the 12' plank was a bit of an issue - glad there were three of us. It cut fine, although now I have a ~1" bow (towards the outside) in the middle. Moisture meter read '10' on the outside (before the cut) and 12 on the inside. It's now stickered with ample weight on it in an unheated garage. Hopefully the bow will straighten as moisture equilibrates and and it won't crack. Bookmatch looks better than I expected.

[Tom Bender]

That's a pretty good result. With the moisture readings so close it will probably not do anything more and you will just have to deal with the bow.